Electric illuminated clock dial



Jan. 2, 1923.

M. DANDY.

ELECTRIC ILLUMINATED CLOCK DIAL.

FILED MAY8 I920.

M pane;

Jan. 2, 1923. 1,441,069.

' M. DANDY.

ELECTRIC ILLUMINATED CLOCK DIAL.

FILED MAY 8, 1024).

d SHEETS -SHEET 3.

AM, pa/idy Patented Jan. 2, 1923.

UNITED STATES MIKE DANDY, OF BURDIN'E, KENTUCKY.

ELEFTRIC ILLUMINATED CLOCK DIAL.

Application filed May 8, 1920. Serial No. 379,889.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, MIKE DANDY, subject of the King of Italy, residingat Burdine, in the county of Letcher and State of Kentucky, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric IlluminatedClock Dials; and I do hereby declare the following to' be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in electricilluminated clock dials and has for its primary object the provision ofmeans for automatically illuminating the dial or face of a clock atprede-' termined intervals so that the time may be easily read in thedark thereby obviating the necessity of lighting a light in order to seethe time.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an electricilluminated clock dial of the above stated character, which will besimple, durable and efficient, and which may be manufactured and sold ata comparatively low cost.

With these and other objects'in view as will become more apparent as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel featuresof construction, combination, and arrangement of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and claimed. 4

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a front elevation illustrating an electrically illuminated clock dialconstructed in accordance with my invention,

Figure 2 is a rear elevation with the cover removed illustrating acircuit closer,

Figure 3 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the wiring diagram,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure2,

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view illustrating a circuit closersecured to the shaft of the minute hand,

Figure 6.is-a fragmentary sectional view illustrating means ofsupporting the electric lamp on the casing of the clock, I

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of Figure 6.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral l-indicates a clockcasing of any .de-

sired design and has located therein a frame 2 for supporting the usualclock mechanism 3. The clock'mechanism 3 has the minute hand shaft 4extending rearwardly of the frame and also extending through the dial 5on the front face 6 of the casing 1. Brackets 8 are secured to the face6 about the dial 5 and are provided with sockets 9 to receive electriclamps 10.- Contacts 11 are secured to the base 6 and engage the electriclampsand said contacts and brackets are connected to conductors 12 whichconnect the electric lamps in series and to resilient contact arms 13.The resilient contact members 13 are secured to the side Walls of thecasing l ln rear of the frame 2 and are disposed horizontally and haveformed on their free ends flexible contact elements 14 adapted to beengaged by radially extending fingers 15 formed on a disk 16. Thefingers 15 and disk 16 form a circuit closer between the contact arms13. The disk 16 is secured to the minute hand shaft 4 of the clockmechanism 3. The conductors 12 are also connected to a battery or otherelectrical source 17 and to a switc 18. The switch 18 is of any desiredconstruction and is secured to the casing 1 whereby the device can berendered operative and inoperative when desired.

The fingers 15 are so arranged that the electric lamps 10 will beilluminated about every eight minutes for a period of a proximatelythirty seconds when the switc 18 is closed and the clock mechanism 3 inoperation.

The fingers 15 are bent longitudinally as illustrated in the drawings soas to catch the flexible ends 14 of the contact arms to cause anefficient electrical connection between said contact arms and to compelthe flexible elements 14 to flex or bend when disengaging the pairs offingers.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination, and arrangement of parts, may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is having their outerends secured to the sides of a clock casing and vhaving their inner endsspaced and reduced to provide flexible contact fingers, a disk securedto the minute hand shaft of the clock and arranged between the fingers,and radially extending pairs of contact blades formed. on the peripheryof the disk and the blades of each painbeing oppositely disposed toengage 10 and bridge the eontaetfingers, said blades beinglongitudinally curved to cause Hexation of the fingers and therebyincrease the pressure of the fingersagainst the blades toprovide aneffective electrical connection between said fingers and blades.

In testimony whereof I affix in presence of a witness. MIKE DANDY.

my signature 4 Witness:

